Throughout Eastern Europe, Dacha means ‘summer house.’ Practically, dachas are an escape from the city: small simple cottages with a yard for growing vegetables to pickle. Culturally, the dacha takes on a semi-mythic quality. It is a space outside time that is both creative and close to nature, built with a view out to the natural world’s weird tension between beauty and brutality. If people live in the city, they dwell in the dacha.

I currently farm four different vineyards of 1-3 acres, from Yoncalla in the south to Aurora in the north. Each vineyard has its associated dacha (that is, someone lives there) and I work closely with the owners to care for the vines and surrounding ecosystem. The acreage— about 8 acres of vines—is a scale at which I feel that I can really pay attention. Throughout the year I handle each vine many times, and my relationship with the plants is quite personal. The wines are a continuation of the conversation  that I am having with the vineyard, and I hope that they are able to express  some of this dialogue, each season and over many years.

Oregon is in many ways the preeminent Dachaland of the USA. Given the present confluence of our various environmental, cultural and humanitarian crises, it is time to reframe the dacha: less as an escape, more as a laboratory. The vineyards that I farm in the Southern Willamette and Umpqua Valleys, as well as the wines that I make in Corvallis, OR, are at once meticulously managed and outside of my control. I am working to grow the biodiversity and health of the vineyards, and the diversity of people who drink the wines that come from them.

 If you have questions about the wines, the vineyards, or ordering, please email isabel@dachawines.com.